150k/yr is bad now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anything under 200k for family of 4 is lower middle class.

Poster from McLean or Potomac chiming in.

200k depends. We are at just over 200k and we are fine. That said we have a small house (by today’s standard) with an even smaller mortgage. This helps a ton. If we were in the market today, without equity, or family help, buying a home would be tough.

With our salary, we have our home, take one nice vacation per year, with other local trips too, have two newer cars, college savings and retirement that’s in decent shape- probably should have invested more earlier, but we made almost nothing in our 20s. Lesson learned is that even if you make nothing, something invested into an IRA or 401k is better than nothing.

Long post, but to OP, 150k only feels paltry because of lifestyle creep. We are guilty of it too. Cable TV, four iPhones, couple trips overseas, Netflix, Spotify, iCloud…crap adds up. At our salary, we realize we can’t have it all. Where we cut/save is shopping at Aldi, going to thrift stores for clothes- daughter turned me onto this, and not eating out a lot. Not eating out is the easiest to give up- it’s so expensive and usually not that great.

Everyone who thinks 150-200k is “good” or “acceptable” either already bought a house a while ago or is single or DINK, or they don’t live anywhere near DC.

Do the math trying to buy a house NOW, buying a car NOW, having kids NOW. Add student loans, add having zero help from family, add needing a second car, etc. 150k/yr doesn’t get you jack sh*t.

I have a relative who owns a home in moco and only makes 60k and they can get by just fine, to them 150k is rich. OH… but let’s not leave out that they bought their house 25 years ago, no kids to support (or spouse), and they save nothing every month.

Here's "the math trying to buy a house NOW:" $150K is $12,500 a month, 30% of $12,500 is $4,167, and a $4,167 a month mortgage means a $700,000 house.

You can get a 3BR+ $700,000 house NOW in Silver Spring, Wheaton, College Park, Hyattsville, Annandale, Falls Church, Shirlington, Springfield, and plenty of other neighborhoods. None of which are "nowhere near DC," and all of which are completely "good" and "acceptable" places to live.

Perhaps you should make a doctor's appointment to have the silver spoon removed from your mouth before you make any more stupid comments.

In silver spring MD your take home pay will be 8000/mo and a first time buyers with 150k salaries are not putting 20% down on 700k houses, that I can tell you (not without mom and dad help). 10% down gives you a 4600 payment and 5% gives you $4950. Add property tax/insurance/maintenance and you’re over 6k a month. Even with your overly optimistic numbers it wouldn’t work.

I posted this up above, but I’ll repeat since you all don’t seem to get it: why do you have to buy a house NOW? Home affordability is literally at the lowest point in history, and your position is that this is a permanent condition which will never abate? Okayyyyy.

That’s like somebody who got laid off during the 2008 recession or the Covid crisis saying the following: “OMG, my family never eat again after our six months of savings runs out! My income is now zero and my mortgage is $3K a month and food is expensive! How can we possibly survive?!” Guess what, you’ll probably find another job eventually and your income will no longer be zero. Do you understand yet? You’re taking literally the worst time ever to buy a house and extrapolating these conditions permanently into the future.

[Anonymous]

No, 150K a year is not bad now. It is enough to afford a warm place to live somewhere. Maybe not in your ideal location, maybe not huge, maybe not perfect. But warm, safe and dry. 150k a year is enough to afford groceries and clothes. 90% of the world cannot afford those basics.

[Anonymous]

My HHI is about $160k a the moment. I keep thinking this is a lot of money but then realize it the same lifestyle we had at about $100k around 10 years ago minus the childcare costs.

[Anonymous]

[mastodon]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap, per Moneywise!

150k is the new 20k

And these people are unwilling to make sacrifices. No sympathy whatsoever.


The standard for being middle class has changed. It used to be going to ok public schools and living in a 1,100 sq ft house. Now it's: 3,000 sq ft house, fly everywhere, good schools, centrally located, latest electronic, refuse to get college paid via GI bill, 50k new car, etc.

Your post 100%

Normal sized single family homes, those under 2,000 sq ft, are not being built anymore.

Flying everywhere is a new thing too. When I was a kid, flying out west every couple years, to see my grandparents, was a big deal. Other than those trips, vacations were Ocean City.

Our son bailed us out on college by joining the military. We had almost enough saved for a state school. By joining the military, he is going to receive 40k in bonuses his first year, in addition to his salary, and they will pay for his college. Also, he is getting hands-on experience in his field. I know the military isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely worth considering.

But he is losing years of salary And only one saving money is you by not having to pay for your sons college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[mastodon]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap, per Moneywise!

150k is the new 20k

And these people are unwilling to make sacrifices. No sympathy whatsoever.


The standard for being middle class has changed. It used to be going to ok public schools and living in a 1,100 sq ft house. Now it's: 3,000 sq ft house, fly everywhere, good schools, centrally located, latest electronic, refuse to get college paid via GI bill, 50k new car, etc.

Your post 100%

Normal sized single family homes, those under 2,000 sq ft, are not being built anymore.

Flying everywhere is a new thing too. When I was a kid, flying out west every couple years, to see my grandparents, was a big deal. Other than those trips, vacations were Ocean City.

Our son bailed us out on college by joining the military. We had almost enough saved for a state school. By joining the military, he is going to receive 40k in bonuses his first year, in addition to his salary, and they will pay for his college. Also, he is getting hands-on experience in his field. I know the military isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely worth considering.

But he is losing years of salary And only one saving money is you by not having to pay for your sons college.

How is he losing years of salary? In addition to his 40k bonus this year he is going to earn 25k for a salary. 65k for an 18 year old is not too shabby. Hopefully he is smart and saves most of it.

We will probably give him his college fund when he’s older so he can use it for a home down payment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[mastodon]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap, per Moneywise!

150k is the new 20k

And these people are unwilling to make sacrifices. No sympathy whatsoever.


The standard for being middle class has changed. It used to be going to ok public schools and living in a 1,100 sq ft house. Now it's: 3,000 sq ft house, fly everywhere, good schools, centrally located, latest electronic, refuse to get college paid via GI bill, 50k new car, etc.

Your post 100%

Normal sized single family homes, those under 2,000 sq ft, are not being built anymore.

Flying everywhere is a new thing too. When I was a kid, flying out west every couple years, to see my grandparents, was a big deal. Other than those trips, vacations were Ocean City.

Our son bailed us out on college by joining the military. We had almost enough saved for a state school. By joining the military, he is going to receive 40k in bonuses his first year, in addition to his salary, and they will pay for his college. Also, he is getting hands-on experience in his field. I know the military isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely worth considering.

But he is losing years of salary And only one saving money is you by not having to pay for your sons college.

How is he losing years of salary? In addition to his 40k bonus this year he is going to earn 25k for a salary. 65k for an 18 year old is not too shabby. Hopefully he is smart and saves most of it.

We will probably give him his college fund when he’s older so he can use it for a home down payment.

Just wait until he gets sick of living in barracks and finds a dependapotamus

[Anonymous]

I HAD to layoff my maid. I had a wonderful lady that came to my house every 2-3 weeks, she was amazing, but because I have to spend $300 on my student loans, I won't have money to pay my maid anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I HAD to layoff my maid. I had a wonderful lady that came to my house every 2-3 weeks, she was amazing, but because I have to spend $300 on my student loans, I won't have money to pay my maid anymore.

I call troll. Even if this was true, you had a $300 bill that you signed up for and you exercised the option to temporarily not pay it. You were giving your maid your loan payments, not the other way around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anything under 200k for family of 4 is lower middle class.

Poster from McLean or Potomac chiming in.

200k depends. We are at just over 200k and we are fine. That said we have a small house (by today’s standard) with an even smaller mortgage. This helps a ton. If we were in the market today, without equity, or family help, buying a home would be tough.

With our salary, we have our home, take one nice vacation per year, with other local trips too, have two newer cars, college savings and retirement that’s in decent shape- probably should have invested more earlier, but we made almost nothing in our 20s. Lesson learned is that even if you make nothing, something invested into an IRA or 401k is better than nothing.

Long post, but to OP, 150k only feels paltry because of lifestyle creep. We are guilty of it too. Cable TV, four iPhones, couple trips overseas, Netflix, Spotify, iCloud…crap adds up. At our salary, we realize we can’t have it all. Where we cut/save is shopping at Aldi, going to thrift stores for clothes- daughter turned me onto this, and not eating out a lot. Not eating out is the easiest to give up- it’s so expensive and usually not that great.

Everyone who thinks 150-200k is “good” or “acceptable” either already bought a house a while ago or is single or DINK, or they don’t live anywhere near DC.

Do the math trying to buy a house NOW, buying a car NOW, having kids NOW. Add student loans, add having zero help from family, add needing a second car, etc. 150k/yr doesn’t get you jack sh*t.

I have a relative who owns a home in moco and only makes 60k and they can get by just fine, to them 150k is rich. OH… but let’s not leave out that they bought their house 25 years ago, no kids to support (or spouse), and they save nothing every month.

Here's "the math trying to buy a house NOW:" $150K is $12,500 a month, 30% of $12,500 is $4,167, and a $4,167 a month mortgage means a $700,000 house.

You can get a 3BR+ $700,000 house NOW in Silver Spring, Wheaton, College Park, Hyattsville, Annandale, Falls Church, Shirlington, Springfield, and plenty of other neighborhoods. None of which are "nowhere near DC," and all of which are completely "good" and "acceptable" places to live.

Perhaps you should make a doctor's appointment to have the silver spoon removed from your mouth before you make any more stupid comments.

12,500 is gross. After taxes this is more like 9,000. Mortgage should not be 50% of take home! The most a person could afford on this salary is maybe 500k house. Max.

Agreed. Which you can still get in Silver Spring/Wheaton, although inventory isn't great at the moment. That gets you a monthly mortgage closer to $3k. I'd still be squeamish about having childcare costs on top of that though but at least it's temporary.

[Anonymous]

$150k is two starter salaries of $75k. And with starter salaries comes a starter house (or better yet rent!) Don’t have kids until the starter salaries go up. This isn’t rocket science people, and it’s no different than it was before.